Mail-conveying apparatus



(No Model.) 3 Sheets--Sheet 1.- A. D. SAUNDERS.

MAIL CONVEYING APPARATUS.

No. 383,771. Patented May ZQ, 1888.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. D. SAUNDERS.

MAIL CONVEYING APPARATUS.

No. 383,771. Patented May 29, 1888.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

A. D. SAUNDERS.

MAIL CONVEYING APPARATUS.

No. 383,771. Patented May 29, 1888.

lmiimcowo/ ENITED STATES PATENT Orrrce.

ALFRED D. SAUNDERS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

MAiL CQNl/EYENG APPARATUS,

iorming part of Letters Patent No. 383,771, dated May 29, 1888Application filed January 16, 1885. Serial No. 360,924. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED D. SAUNDERS, of Brooklyn, in the county ol'Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Mail-Conveying Apparatus; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters of reference marked, thereon, which form part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to an improved apparatus for conveying mail orpackages, and is especially adapted for use in ofiice or otherbuildings, in postollices, and in very tall build ings divided up intoseparate rooms or apartinents. it can be cheaply and quickly put into abuilding, and is extremelynseinl and convenient, saving a great deal oftime and trouble to business nien or others who might wish to send frombelow a package, letter, or other article to a certain upper floor of abuild ing, or to those on the upper floors wno wish to send sucharticles to a mail-box or to a person in the lower portion of thebuilding.

The object of my invention is to provide iinproved, cheap, and effectivemeans whereby a person upon any door of a building can send a letter orpackage to the lower door, or a person at the lower floor could send aletter or package to an upper floor without sending a messenger orgoingnp and down himself.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain novel featuresof construction and combinations ofparts, more fully describedhereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a section of thewellhole extending through the several floors or stories of thebuilding, showing the conveyor and the electric motor for actuating thesame. Fig. 2 is a section through several stories or doors of abuilding, the outer all of the well-hole being broken away to show thewires attached to the wall of the same. Fig. 3 is a view of the openingsthrough the wall of the building into the shaft, said openings beingclosed by suitable doors or the like. Figs. 4 and r are respectively adetail perspective view and a cross section of one of the letter pocketsor receptacles carried upon the conveyor. Fig. 5 is a detail view of thepulley over which the upper portion of the conveyor passes, showing theindicating bell or gong; and Figs. 6, 7, S, 9, and 10 are detail viewsillustrating the indienter and manner of operating the same.

In the drawings, the reierenceletter A in dicates the wall or casi ng ofa vertical well-hole, (0, extending from the bottom floor upward,preferably through all the stories of a build ing. This well-hole ispreferably constructed of iron, and is intended to pass through the wallof the main hall or most central part of each door or story of abuilding, and the wellhole is provided at each floor with one or moreopenings or apertures, a, through its outer wall, and which are locatedat such points in the well-hole as to be within easy reach from eachstory, and are normally closed by means oi doors a hinged to openinwardly into the room or hall in each iloor through'which the wellholepasses. An endless belt or conveyor, 13, operates vertically in thewellhole over a pul ley, b, horizontally journaled in the upper portionof the well-hole, and is driven by a pulley, b, horizontally mounted inthe lower portion of the well hole. The pulleys are mounted uponsuitable shafts or axles, carried, preferably, by hangers, and mountedupon the shaft which carries the lower driving-pulley is a pulley, 72,adapted to be driven by a belt, p, or the like, operated by a pulleycarried by the armature of any suitable electrical niotorflV, preterably located in a suitable receptacle, P, at the bottom of the well-hole,and the poles of the electrical motor are so connected with the sourceof electrical energy which drives the motor that the current can bebroken and closed by means of pushbultons 0, located on each floor nearthe doors or openings in the well-hole, each button being electricallyconnected with a circuit breaker and closer (not shown) by means ofwires extending from each door down through the well-hole at one side ofthe belt conveyor, as shown in Fig. 2.

Pockets or receptacles E are secured at suitable intervals to thevertical endless conveyor. Said pockets are preferably rectangular inform, as shown in Figs. at and 1, and are se cured at one edge to thebelt, prefcrably'by means of flaps extending from the receptacle. Eachreceptacle is divided into two pockets by means of a horizontalpartition extending centrally through the same, thus forming a pocketupon the upper and lower sides of the receptacle, whereby the same arerendered reversible and can carrya letter or parcel when they are goingup on one side or down on the other side of the conveyer.

Suitable gongs or bells, d, are located in the shaft near the upper andlower pulleys,and are adapted to be struck and rung by projections (1,carried by the belt,to notify when a receptaclecarryiug a letter orparcel has reached the bottom or top of the well-hole. A mail or letterbox, W, is located at the bottom of the well-hole to receive the letterssent down by the conveyer, and said boX is provided with the usual door,that can be opened by the mail-man.

S S represent speaking-tubes, of any approved construction, runningupwardly through the wellhole from the lower portion of the same, and ateach floor or story each tube is provided with a branch mouth orear-piece, S and at the lower end each tube is provided with a mouth andear piece, S, as shown in Fig. 1.

r 1" represent suitable keyboards provided with the numbers of the roomsin the building, and opposite each number is a separate pushbutton, andeach separate push-button is in electrical communication with a separatecall-bell in the room represented by the pushbutton.

The reference-letter M represents a clock face or dial located upon theoutside of the well-hole at each floor or story, and upon said dial arethe numbers of the floors or stories of thebuilding. (See Figs. 2 and8.) Horizontal shafts m are suitably j onrnaled across the hollowshaftbetween the belt conveyerin suitable hangers, 1 2,at each floor,and one end of each shaft is adapted to pass through the wall of thewell-hole and through the center of each face or dial M, and each shaftis provided upon its outer end with an indicating-finger, m, adapted topass over the numbers of the floors of the building arranged in regularorder around the dial. Another series of shafts, n, is also suitabl y journaled across thewe1l-h0le at each floor, upon each of which ismounted a star-wheel, 12', provided with a series of teeth equal to thenumber of stories or floors in the building. Said star-wheels are solocated in the wellhole that a tooth of each will be engaged once inevery complete revolution of the endless belt conveyer by each of twooperating lugs or projections, n oppositely located upon thebelt-conveyer. Also, rigidly mounted upon each of said shafts n and eachof shafts m are pulleys a, connected by means of belting a, so that allof the shafts a and m are connected together. Thus it will be seen thatif a person upon the lower floor placed a letter in a pocket of theconveyer and started the same to take the letter to a person on acertain floor of thebuilding,whenthereceptacleeontaining the letter hadpassed up the hollow shaftone story one of the projections a wouldengage a tooth on one of the star-wheels and turn the wheel one tooth,which operation would turn all the indicating-fingers m to the figure 1on all of the dials, the indicating-fingers having been first set atzero, thus showing that the letter had passed up one story, and when theletter passes up through the second story a projection, M, will engageand turn another wheel one tooth, and turn all the indicatingfingers tothe figure 2 on each dial, thus showing that the letter had passed thesecond story. Thus the person sending the letter, and the person toreceive the same, can tell, by the indicating fingers and dials, whenthe receptacle holding the letter reaches its destination, and both canthen act accordingly.

Any person on entering the building will find the key-board r or rpreferably near the entrance. He will then press the buttoncommunicating with the room in which is the person he wishes tocommunicate with. This operation will ring the bell in that room. Thecall will then be answered by some one from the room going to theopening in the'shaft on that floor and making known the fact that he wasthere by calling through the speakingtube, and the person below willthen, if he wishes to send up a letter or note, open a door, a Fig. 2,put his letter in one of the receptacles on the right-hand side of theconveyer, and then press one of the push-buttons c, which will completethe circuit through the electrical motor, and thus start the motor andhence the conveyer. The person above will then open the door at theopening into the wcll-hole and take out the letter when it reaches him.

Supposing a person on one of the upper floors wished to send a letterdown into the mail-box, he would simply open one of the doors closingthe opening into the well-hole, place his letter in one of thereceptacles on the right-hand side of the conveyer and press thepush-button near the door, which would set in operation the motor, andthen hold the pushbutton depressed until the gong at the bottom of thewell-hole indicated that the letter had been dropped into the mail-boxby the projection on the belt near the receptacle engaging a bell.

It will be observed that the pocket on one It's side of a receptacle isused for conveying ar- 7 ticles upward, and that the pocket upon theopposite side of the receptacle is to be used in conveying articlesdownward.

The batteries to furnish the electricity for the various purposes beforementioned are preferably located in the bottom of the receptacle orcloset P, which contains the motor, or in a receptacle, G, near the footof the wellhole or shaft.

It is clearly evident that numerous slight changes might be made in theform and arrangement of the various parts described without departingfrom the spirit and scope of my invention; hence I do not wish to limitmyself strictly to the precise construction herein set forth, butconsider myself entitled to all such slight changes.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The herein-described package or mail conveying apparatus, comprisinga vertical closed wellhole extending through the several floors of abuilding, and provided with apertures or openings through its wallwithin easy reach from each floor, doors or the like normally closingsaid openings, an endless eonveyer vertically operating in saidwellhole, receptacles carried by said eonveyer and adapted to passwithin reach from each of said openings, each receptacle being providedwith a pocket in its top and bottom, a motor in the bottom of saidwell-hole adapted to drive the conveyer, and connections between themotor and each floor, as set forth.

2. A conveying apparatus comprising a vertical well-hole extendingthrough the sev eral floors of a building,and provided with one or moreopenings through its wall at each floor, pulleys mounted atthe top andbottom of said well-hole, an endless vcrticallyoperating conveyorpassing over said pulleys and adapted to be driven by the lower pulley,which is provided with an auxiliary pulley connected with an electricmotor, and wires running through the well-hole from each floor, by whichthe operation of the motor can be started or stopped from any floor, asset forth.

3. The apparatus comprising a vertical wellhole extending through theseveral floors of a building, an endless conveyor operatingin the sameand provided with pockets or receptacles, and an indicating devicewhereby the number of doors traversed by the conveyer is shown andconsisting of agraduatcd face or dial, and an indicatingfinger operatingover the face of the dial and located on and operated by a shaft or studextending transversely into the vertical well-hole, said shaft or studand the finger carried by the same being operated by the operation ofthe conveyor, substantially as described.

4:. The apparatus comprising a vertical wellhole extending through theseveral floors of a building, an endless belt ccnveyer operating in thesame and provided with pockets, and an indicating device whereby thenumber of stories traversed by the convcyer is shown upon every floorand consisting of a graduated face or dial upon each floor, anindicating-iinger for each dial, horizontal shafts or studs extendingtransversely into the vertical well-hole and carrying said fingers andr0 tated by the belt conveyer as it operates, and belting whereby theshafts are connected and made to operate simultaneously when one shaftis turned, as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signaturein presence oftwo witnesses.

ALFRED D. SAUNDERS.

'Witnesscs:

JULIUs Serena, Ont-turns, M. WERLE.

